St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-12-27
THE CONVICT'S STORY.

at is the statement of a convict and
should, therefore, be taken with many
grains of allowance"
You will find the above paragraph at
the tail end of every charge made by
discharged convict against the prison
management. 1t is as much as to say
that there may be one grain of truth to
ninety-nine grains of malice and false
hood. And yet ask you who should
know the inside of prison better than
a prisoner. If there is cruelty, it is
practiced upon him. If there is fraud,
he is generally the sufferer. There is
no more justice in accusing him of NAL
ice or falSehOod in his statements than
there is of accusing farmer who has
grievance against neighbOr. The man
who is Justly sent to prison bears no
malice against the Institution or its Off
GERS. The prisoner who is treated as
the law direets-whe finds honest Off
Gals about him, who gets what the law
says he shall receive, who sees no favor
itism practiced-leaves with the kindli-
est feelings toward the entire corps OF
officers.
have been a state prison convict. l
admit it without a blush, because the
crime [ was sentenced for, and because
| was humbly apolOgiZed to in public
and Unidentified in financial way. 1T
there is an inducement for convict
whose guilt was conclusive to falSlfy on
coming forth, there can certainly be
none for me. 1t was a case of mistaken
identity, coupled with my ignorance of
the law, which sent lie to prison in
one of the Middle states for the term of
three years. l was told how much
good time'' l could gain by industry
and respectful department, and en-
tered the place determined to gain every
hour possible. l was country boy
without vices. did not swear, drink,
smoke, or chew, nor could any human
being Justly charge me with any OffenSe
against the law. / had been brought up
by religious parents, and it may be in
ferred that l knew what belonged to
good manners. 1t would therefore seem
on easy undertaking for me to obey all
the prison rules and stand well i'll the
estimation of the officials.
was delivered over to the warden by
the officer, the usual receipt taken, and
then l was registered and enrolled.
During this proceeding / cOughed VIC
lently several times, having contracted
a severe cold in the jail, where had
lain for seventy days. This seemed to
greatly annoy the warden, and present
ly he called out to me:
"Ah! you ID horse thief, you are
preparing to play the cOnsumptive trick,
are YOU? If you cough like that again
I'll have you logged"
had to cough again. couldn't have
avoided it if he had stood with knife
pointed at my heart. The brute took
step forward and gave me hearty slap
in the mouth, and said to the two men
in the office:
boys, you want to keep lookout on
this cussed rascal! He's come here de-
termined to run this prison, and an Oc-
casional dressing down will be the salve
for his burnSm
had to cough again before they got
through with the register, and on this
occasion both the turnkeys kicked me.
When l was led away 10 the wicket and
beyond, the warden called after me:
"Fll see to your case, young man!
You may think you know all about run
ming prison, but Eli soon convince you
that you dOn'tw
l am satisfied that the warden'S action
in this case was an exception, although
/ knew of this man mlSuSlng many
other prisoners on their arrival. The
law of that state does not say that
common prisoner shall be put into
dungeon on his arrival. 1t reserves that
punishment for murderers. / was "0nly
horse thief" looked upon with con-
tempt by the majority of prisoners, but
the warden ordered me placed in the
dungeon and kept there for two weeks.
This was a matter of establishment to all
the prisoners who knew of the circum-
stance and to the inside officials. At the
end of the fortnight was brought out
and went to the harness shop. When l
was registered my occupation was given
as that of a farmer. l had worked at
nothing else, and was poor hand with
mechanical tools. The harness shop
was run by state contractor, and two
guards were always present with reyOl-
vers in had. One of them appeared to
be kind-hearted man, with full sense
of Justice. the other was a brOwbeater
and a nagger. He had opportunities TO
boss and tyrannize, and he made the
most of them. The foreman of the shop
set me to work cutting out some pieces
of harness by pattern. My eyes were
still affected by the terrible darkness of
the dungeon, and, having no confidence
in myself, took up the work slowly. l
was at bench between two of the
guards, and presently the nagger said
to me:
Ibid you come here to play gentle
man, you id thief?'
| looked up, but made no reply.
While knew nothing of the rules of
state prison, | intnitively realized that
prisoner had no right to talk back.
"1f was the foreman I'd report your